
Analysis
North America
South America
Women
Long-term prisoners
Drugs
Brazil
Despite many differences at the legal, social and economic levels, Brazil and the United States have commonalities in their use of female incarceration. The Instituto Terra, Trabalho e Cidadania (Land, Labour and Citizenship Institute, ITTC) undertook a comparative investigation to identify recurrent…
Source — The Instituto Terra, Trabalho e Cidadania (ITTC)
Read more
Africa
Coronavirus
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Europe
Material conditions
Social ties
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Argentina: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
South America
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Argentina
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Argentinian authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Chile : Managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
South America
Health
Material conditions
Protest
Activities
Social ties
Work
Chile
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Chilean authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
France: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Europe
Material conditions
Protest
Activities
Social ties
France
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the French authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
New Zealand: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Oceania
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Work
New Zealand
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the New Zealand authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Norway: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Activities
Norway
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Norwegian authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Costa Rica: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
South America
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Costa Rica
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Costa Rican authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Spain: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Protest
Activities
Social ties
Spain
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Spanish authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Thailand: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Work
Thailand
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Thai authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
South Africa: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Africa
Coronavirus
Health
Material conditions
Protest
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
South Africa
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the South African authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Brazil: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
South America
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Brazil
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Brazilian authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Ireland: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Europe
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Ireland
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the Irish authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
Read more
Coronavirus
Access to legal rights
Health
The combination of massive need and short supply of COVID-19 vaccines requires authorities to define priorities. Whether prisoners should be considered a priority group becomes an urgent question.
Source — Open Society Justice Initiative
Read more
Coronavirus
North America
Access to legal rights
United States
Randall Jordan-Aparo, Darren Rainey and Latandra Ellington are not household names. But like Michael Brown, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, they were killed by law enforcement officers.
Source — The Conversation
Read moreFrance: Inequality of life during an epidemic
Analysis
Opinion
Coronavirus
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
Europe
Health
Overcrowding
France
Those imprisoned or detained are in forced confinement, states Didier Fassin. He has published a forum on the Liberation website. He questions whether the “sense of responsibility and solidarity” advocated by Emmanuel Macron stops at the doors of prisons and overcrowded detention centres.
Source — Libération
Read more
Africa
Health
The online course Prisons in Africa: experiences, models and circulations gathers theoretical analysis, interviews with diffeerent actors (researchers, prison administration staff, former inmates, and activists). It aims at debunking the idea that all African prisons are the same, invariably labeled…
Read more
France: reintegration is everyone’s business
Analysis
Interview
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
France
With more and more prisoners and a substantial recidivism rate, prison does not succeed in protecting society. Although reintegration is one of the missions of the prison administration, it is not considered to be of vital importance. Why?
Read more
Death penalty
Violence
On the occasion of the 10 October 2019 World Day against the Death Penalty, the Planète Réfugiés-Droits de l’Homme (PRDH) organisation launched an international initiative at the Paris Bar Association concerning the prison conditions and treatment of prisoners on death rows around the world. The purpose…
Read more

Human rights in the Argentine criminal system
Analysis
Report
South America
Access to legal rights
Argentina
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish
LGBTI people deprived of their freedom: ring the warning bell
Analysis
Report
DRC: insufficient health care at Makala Prison
Analysis
Report
Africa
Health
Overcrowding
Congo - Kinshasa
“We are sick, but since there is no doctor to see us, we have no access to any medicine.”
Read more
Death penalty: global trends
Analysis
Report
Reintegration: Prisoners, don’t eat that kind of bread!
Analysis
Opinion
Samuel Lourenço Filho spent nine years incarcerated in Brazil. To Samuel, the topic of reintegration is one that is not easy to swallow. On May 2018, he published his stance on the subject on a Brazilian journal website. With permission from the author, we have reproduced, translated and adapted the…
Read more